Scottish crime novelist McDermid once again proves herself the consummate storyteller in this clever blending of history, mystery, verse, and vice…against the backdrop of England’s idyllic Lake District, McDermid renders a supremely satisfying tale in which matters of heart and mind are entwined. Snippets of a manuscript are provided at the end of the chapters, so we can get to hear the story as it was told to the one who recorded it. A superb psychological thriller in which present-day murder has its roots in the eighteenth century and the mutiny on the Bounty. Val McDermid, as ever, is adept at engendering irresistible suspense, as the fearsome attractiveness of the ever more benighted and bloody predicament works its effect on readers. It was rumoured that the poet had written an epic verse recounting Christian’s version of events, only to hide it away for fear its publication would result in his arrest.

In fact, I only read it now because I have a patented "reach onto the second row of a shelf and pull out whatever book you touch" technique for my unread book shelf. The plot, which discusses whether a man named Fletcher Christian (responsible for the Mutiny) ever came back to England from Pitcairn and gave his story to Wordsworth was so enthralling. McDermid provides enough violence to add real urgency to her intriguing premise…the novel’s scholarship is exciting on it’s own terms and entirely appropriate for a district so wildly beautiful that it attracts both poets and pirates.

University professor and scholar Jane Gresham goes to the Lake District to explore a rumored Wordsworth manuscript containing a poem which may be worth millions. Woven into the Tale is the story of Fletcher Cristian and his ancestors along with that of one of Lake Districts' most famous citizens, William Wordsworth. This sets up an improbable subplot involving a teenage girl that Jane has befriended and, after witnessing the murder of her aunt’s boyfriend, follows Jane to Lakeland to avoid the police.

She believes that the Lakeland poet William Wordsworth, a friend of Christian's, may have sheltered the fugitive and turned his tale into an epic poem - which has since disappeared. He specializes in large scale custom designs, incorporating flow and realism to bring your tattoo idea to the next level. Jane (like Christian, a native of Fellhead) hopes to prove the local legend that he escaped from Pitcairn Island and made his way back to England, also validating her own theory that he confided the true story of his ill-fated adventures to his onetime schoolmate, William Wordsworth.Some of the technologies we use are necessary for critical functions like security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and to make the site work correctly for browsing and transactions. The premise involves a story that I've always liked: Fletcher Christian and the mutiny on the Bounty. There are friendships and family relationships that drive Jane and her reactions to the people around her.